Let's have another thread about that genius David Banner

or hell, choose me.

I know this was sarcastic, but I'ma use this as an excuse to point out how great Ice Cube was.

Who can fuck with it, really?

My landlady is quite the looker, but I'm afriad that if I ask her out, things could get akward. Do you have any advice?
Turned on in Connecticut

Well TOIC, Y'all may of made us slaves but never make us your hoe
God, you my pimp so let's start exposin' these hoes
Y'all judges some weak pussies, y'all preaches some rapin' fags
These people that made us slaves, these niggas wavin' they flags
America ain't shit but home of the hot lick
They hang us all by rope, then laugh and cut off our dick
-David Banner

David Banner is a syndicated advice columnist who appears in over 600 newspapers nationwide.

Disclaimer: I really like David Banner's music a lot.

Mama ain't got no cash, daddy aint got no doe
So daddy went to my mama and started pimpin that hoe
Man it's hard times, niggas ain't got shit
Nothin but billy clubs to they head and they ass kicked
Heroin in they vein, cocaine up in they brain
Man what you expect, America gave us pain

Obviously, strongo I realize the parallels between banner the geto boys and robert johnson, howling wolf etc....but I think the misogyny is one of the worst aspects of all those artists...I like the geto boys best for the doubt and sadness that creeps in (and I'm sure there probably is that in Banner too, who I admit I have not really heard enough to judge, my first post was basically my first reatction to hearing him, my opinion can and prob,. will change)

i'm a rap fan, but I mean I don't think that it's invalid to be disturbed by some of the lyrics that banner has....esp. the new glorifications of the "pimp" stuff in rap that really bothers me

x-post: matt, i dont think it's invalid at all! and i am certainly disturbed by it. i mean, the thrill of crunk is like totally inseperable from the "strip club mosh" sound of it and that's something that i am totally NOT down with, on the whole.

xpost - yeah I don't think anyone is dismissing misogyny...the reason Banner gets respect is that his misogyny is not unrepentant.

Also I know I'm new here so maybe I'm stupid for saying this but this whole "shocka" thing kinda annoys me. Alright crucify me.

Sorry, but ever since Snoop and his women on leashes thing at the MTV awards this stuff has really been irritating me...

Quaint word play? So the choice is either the current hiphop lyrical status quo or quaint word play?

x-post: I don't have time for it. It doesn't work as entertainment for me.

I should probably just take a vacation from ILM.

x-post, the problem, rockist, is that a. you hate rap, and b. you haven't been able to listen to banner because of this and at least potentially hear what i am getting at above.

Sorta what makes a huge number of artists compelling...

Do you know about the lyrical content of a lot of the greek or arabic stuff you listen to?

hope you don't take a vacation from ILM.

it's a joke unless he says it while personally kicking the faggot in the face

The scene in Killa Season where he unzips and pisses on that guy while going "no homo! no homo!" is one of the most mindbendingly genderfucked in the history of hip-hop cinema.

A FILM WHOSE TIME HAS CUM ...er..

is there not a thread on "killa season" the movie?

the unintentional/intentional comedy is borderline revolutionary.

No one's mentioned "Rubberband Man"?! For some reason, the local pop station still plays this frequently. Definitely not complaining!

hey i got my ass beat last night for being a faggot and got it yelled at me today by some armenian dudes in an escalade. there's always a context to everything and if there's 'faggot' involved the context is probably pretty offensive, and you're right john d. that the original post said 'uncomfortable and regrettable' which does sound about right, i was the one with a reading problem. my knees just jerk when i hear people get upset about something in a song, because christ you know? it takes some imagination to hear other contexts around a song besides the one demeaning one--sometimes it's not even worth it but a lot of times it is. and i like cam'ron.

x-post. ok that totally makes sense jordan. sorry to have gotten all crazypants on you.

xpost. nah it's cool, that's what discussion is for. and anyway there's shit in between the lines that didn't translate over the internet etc. etc. no hard feelings.

No one's mentioned "Rubberband Man"?! For some reason, the local pop station still plays this frequently. Definitely not complaining!

-- Tape Store, Sunday, July 29, 2007 5:36 AM

I heard it on the radio out of the blue a couple days ago, quite WTF.

Also, for whoever asked about the cartoon upthread:

"That Crook'd 'Sip is a show created by Jacob Escobedo, Nick Weidenfeld, Levell "David Banner" Crump and Mike Weiss. It premiered on Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 12:15 a.m. EST (May 14) on the Adult Swim block of Cartoon Network programming.

The Beauregard family, much like their Mississippi mansion, is falling apart. Relics of the Old South, this dysfunctional clan sits in stark contrast to the modern crunk-fueled Dirty South that has grown up around their crumbling estate, Frenchman’s Bend."

Apparently only one ep has aired.

this thread is still :-/ and recent revive isn't helping

What would it take to get it out of :-/ ville?

i dunno, less handwringing. vahid's posts upthread were alright i guess

I don't know, I'm still working out the politics of this stuff for myself and it helps to talk it out with other people. I guess that can come off like hand-wringing.

straight outta :-/ville

dont let me stop you

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AAS222S3L._AA240_.jpg

Are you and jess and ethan etc just past all this stuff? You guys are a couple years older than me, do you have it figured out or at least settled in your own minds? Totally serious question.

xpost

i second that.

If you're still up, deej or any of the senior rolling snap crew, I'd be very interested in any replies.

The OG Rolling Snap crew, let's say.

i can't answer for them but i think this kind of 'i like banner but just so you know, i object to misogyny!' comes across as a bit too much '...doth protest too much,' not that i think yr secretly supermisogynist or anything but yes, hoos, we know you like rap, we like rap, some rap has misogynist themes, there is no need to reestablish that you are in fact human and find things offensive/objectionable yet enjoy parts of them too.

basically its a debate that has existed in art forever and i don't feel like anything is really being added here. what conclusion am i supposed to draw other than 'hoos is conflicted'?

at the same time i don't think yr posts in this thread are particularly offensive or anything, its cool yr eager to discuss this issue and i guess to some degree it is new to you so i'm just being hypocritical

so deej is yr position that, since the debate is old, one need not or ought not remark on misogyny when it's present? that's it's somehow gauche or passe to do so?

don't take the wrong tone from that, just a question. For you, this question is settled - is that what you're saying?

no, not at all. there are lots of meaningful things to be said. this doesn't come across that way, it comes across as a cheap bid for a 'pass' to me ... or that by somehow acknowledging that some shit you listen to is offensive it 'means' something. it feels like an empty gesture intended more to let everyone know that, you know, I AM CONFLICTED.

that makes it sound more like hoos is being self-aggrandizing than i think he is, but i don't know how else to say it. how am i supposed to respond to him? how would u respond, if i wasn't expressing my lack of enthusiasm?

I wrote a very long response (postscript: I guess this one gets long, too) but this whole question is such a bottomless pit of despair for me that I said "fuck it." I relate to hoos's conflicted stuff here, so it doesn't seem like he's asking for a "pass" so much as for help in parsing something he enjoys in such a way that, in enjoying it, he won't feel like he's lending moral legitimacy to some stuff within it that he finds objectionable. When I say "some stuff," though, the pervasiveness of this "stuff" should be noted: nobody who loves rap can fail to have noticed that "bitch" is used as a substantive for "woman" as often as it means "unpleasant woman." I think it's kinda brave of him to admit that "bitches" now conflates with "women" in his head, and I don't think of that as "no big deal" - but I'm kinda on my hobby horse here. I have hated the use of the word "bitch" in rap for as long as I've been listening to the stuff, which is 20 or 21 years now. I think it's total bullshit, and I think there's a very weird condescending racism at work in dudes not taking offense at stuff in rap where they might take offense at if they heard it elsewhere.

but I'm not gonna go long on this because sooner or later somebody'll remind me that world hunger is still a problem, so what's the big deal if men call women bitches right

but I'm not gonna go long on this because sooner or later somebody'll remind me that world hungHOOSger is still a problem, so what's the big deal if men call women bitches right

-- J0hn D., Monday, July 30, 2007 3:46 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ban tape store

J0hn, you're starting to sound like Patrin at his most paranoid/sarcastic/self-conscious. Ethan officially broke you.

HOOS WANT IT! HOOS WANT IT!

it feels like an empty gesture intended more to let everyone know that, you know, I AM CONFLICTED.

This feels otm. Thanks for the responses, guys.

no goato

bump 4 monday clusterfuck

good work

no, i don't feel the need to mention that this awesome song disrespects women/gays/jews/inuits/banana splits fans and I Am Against Dehumanization As A Rule when i'm watching mtv with my friends or driving in the car with same or even out at a bar/club/church social with people i may be less than intimate familiars with. i do believe, however, that the fait accompli (or just totally ignored) way regrettable content is dealt with in MANY kinds of reviews (esp. in, say, the hands of our new poptimist overlords for whom any extra-musical associations are anathema), not just of hip-hop, is pernicious. it doesn't have to be hand-wringing or overly earnest or even didactic. but not mentioning it at all seems tantamount to consumer fraud.

My take on Banner's use of ugly language and extreme mysogyny is that it's *supposed* to be part of his concept -- his whole persona is based on the oppressed black man from the south rendered so angry as to become a foul mouthed sociopathic monster. It worked beautifully on Mississippi: The Album, which I believe is one of the great hip-hop records. The last two-thirds of the record draws its strength from the brutally disgusting first part.

But then he does "Play," clearly intended as a commercial misogyny song. No context, no point.

So I never defend ugliness for the sake of ugliness -- I hate, hate, HATE Efil4zaggin, for instance. But I acknowledge it and occasionally celebrate it if it fits into the artistic theme.

I'd say that "Play" isn't de facto misogynist and is probably one of his less morally-entangled songs, though! It's just directly nasty and sexual, but outside of the ying-yang twins quote it doesn't really approach outright sexism.

As for the idea of conflicted regarding musical content, it's just that, being conflicted. You can enjoy music, be frustrated by it, and outright loathe it at different times. If your relationship to all music is "wow, this song is awesome!" then it's a pretty shallow interaction.

Thanks for all this again, guys.

banners always been hugely overrated to me... i enjoy some of his records but the shtick and interviews have always seemed more interesting than the music.

but not mentioning it at all seems tantamount to consumer fraud.

yeah i mean its not like by glossing over these issues the writer is doing the music a service either.

damned if you do etc

I'd be surprised this thread revive went on for fifty posts without once mentioning his new single, but then I've heard it.

Haha yeah true.

I have to say this thread is one of my favorite thread titles of all time, it's so sarcastic and bitchy.

Should I start a new thread for the upcoming album?

Here's an XXL interview where he talks about it.

actually i think hes genuinely shit. crooked lettaz were a 100 times better than banner solo. he should just release his interviews on record and be done with it.

Banner fascinates me because he manages to sound brilliant, crazy and retarded simultaneously in the same interview (The elephants? Awesome. If you ain't dead, you a fed? Crackhead talk). His brain just doesn't work like a normal person's brain, man.

Really looking forward to the record. He's one of the few rappers who actually releases press advances, so I'll have to chase that down.

I was going to post something unfunny about TEH HULK but then I remembered that that was Bruce Banner.

it was david banner at one pt

pretty sure it was intentional on his part tho

take a bath
wash yaself
take a bath
show me what you're washin

Can someone tell me why he has a hitler stache in Stomp the Yard 2?

Haha